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Glite Dictionary
phagosome

phagosome

1 9.3
A small pouch inside a cell that holds and breaks down things like bacteria
  • noun
  • /ˈfæɡəˌsoʊm/
  • Specialized
: fagosoma
  • The phagosome forms when a cell engulfs a bacterium, aiding in its digestion.

Examples

  • Inside the immune cell, the phagosome contains the ingested pathogen to be broken down.

  • You had a Gtpase, you had a phagosome oxidase, OK.

  • And because these compounds would mimic the phagosome copper burst, we refer to those as phagosome function memetics.

  • The phagosome and lysosome combine to eliminate harmful particles in the bloodstream.

Synonyms

vesicle
vsphagosome
  • Specialized
3 7.9

A small sac in living things that holds fluid

specializes in engulfing and digesting particles instead of just holding fluids
endosome
vsphagosome
  • Specialized
1 9.1

A small pocket inside a cell that holds and sends incoming things to the right place

engulfs and digests particles rather than only sorting and transporting them

Surface Forms

phagosome singular
phagosomes plural

Morphology

phagosome = phagocyte (opaque) = phago + some

The word is formed from specialist combining forms (phago- 'eat' + -some 'body') and the immediate structure is technical, so ordinary learners cannot reliably infer the meaning from the parts.

Etymology

The word phagosome comes from Greek parts phago- meaning 'eat' and -soma meaning 'body'. So a phagosome is like a tiny 'eating body' or 'stomach' inside the cell that swallows and digests bacteria or debris.